The Save Ukraine charity completed its latest effort to reunite 31 children with their families over the weekend after the children were taken from their homes in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions to Russian-occupied Crimea. The children were taken to summer camps, where they were told that they would be staying longer and that they would be adopted. One child said they were "treated like animals" while others moved five times in as many months. The children were located by the charity and taken across the border from Russian-controlled territory on foot through Belarus and back to Ukraine. The reunions were an emotional occasion with family members hugging and crying following months of separation. Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last year, the Ukrainian authorities estimate that Russia has deported more than 16,000 children. Last month, the International Criminal Court charged Russian President Vladimir Putin and children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova with war crimes. Russian has denied the charge, and Lvova-Belova said that her commission had acted to protect children from the war.